Electronic circuits are commonly made from polyimide-metal laminates, using a subtractive process. In such a process, a dielectric is first layered (or laminated) with a solid metal layer, and thereafter, the metal layer is converted to a metal circuit pattern by subtracting away most of the metal. This results in a fine line conductive circuit pattern. Typically, the metal is subtracted away by chemical etching or the like. However, such metal subtraction processes can be expensive, environmentally unfriendly, and increasingly problematic in meeting increasing performance requirements of the industry.
EP 1 367 872 A2 to Goosey et al., is directed to laser activated dielectric material and an electroless deposition process, involving a sensitizing pre-dip and a milling process for incorporating titanium dioxide, aluminum nitride or zirconium dioxide filler into a dielectric coating material, and then ultimately converting the filler (using laser energy) into a metallization catalyst.